3 PROMINENT AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN RECEIVE AWARD IN AFRICA

DAKAR, Senegal – Kathy Y. Times, President of the National Association of Black Journalists, was among three African-American women honored in Senegal in December at a tribute to women of Africa and the Diaspora.

Times along with educator Ruth Love, a former Oakland, Calif., and Chicago schools superintendent, and Johnson Publishing Company chairman Linda Rice Johnson, head of the largest African-American publishing company in the world, were lauded at a gala dinner Sunday, Dec. 14, in Dakar during the World Festival of Black Arts and Cultures. President Abdoulaye Wade of the West African country chaired the event.

The Festival of Black Arts and Cultures is the largest gathering of black intellectuals, artists, scientists and other luminaries from Africa and the Diaspora to take place on the African continent. Held under the auspices of the African Union, it continues in Dakar through Dec. 31.

Festival guests from throughout Africa and Brazil were among those at the glittering dinner honoring the women.

"The three honorees exemplify the importance of the empowerment of women, which is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) endorsed by world leaders at the United Nations in 2000," said Dr. Djibril Diallo, senior advisor to the Executive Director of UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) and leader of the U.S. delegation to the Festival.

"Women have a key role in efforts to achieve all the MDGs by 2015, including elimination of extreme poverty, universal primary education, reducing maternal and child deaths, combating AIDS and other deadly diseases, promoting environmental sustainability, and building a global partnership for development."

Times, the 18th President of the NABJ, was elected by the membership to serve the 2009-2011 term. The Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter and co-anchor of Fox 40 News at 9 in Jackson, Miss., previously served NABJ as Vice President-Broadcast from 2007-2009.

Since her election, Times has worked to transform the organization as the industry convulses from a broader U.S. economic downturn. She has intensified efforts to focus on skills and training at NABJ’s annual convention and challenged media owners to refrain from making black journalists unequal casualties of the recession. And she has expanded the reach of the organization internationally. NABJ was a founding partner of the Haiti News Network, which provided computers and training to Haitian journalists after that country’s devastating earthquake in January, 2010. In April, she visited Senegal to discuss partnering opportunities with local journalists and convened a board of directors meeting in Canada.

NABJ Vice President/Print Deirdre Childress accepted the award on Times’ behalf. She said the organization’s mission includes international outreach, something Times will continue to do during the final eight months of her presidency.

Dr. Love served as superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District and was the first woman to run Chicago's public schools. She improved test scores at both districts. Dr. Love also directed the National Right to Read Program for the U.S. Department of Education, a job that took her around the world.

Dr. Love, a University of California Berkeley professor and education advisor to the Obama administration, was a member of a U.S. delegation of African-Americans in Dakar to attend the black arts festival. She thanked organizers for the award and said she was proud of her various work to help the people of Africa, especially her annual collection of books, medical equipment/supplies, computers and other materials that she ships to West Africa.

Johnson Rice is chairman of Johnson Publishing Company, Inc., home of Ebony and Jet magazines and Fashion Fair Cosmetics. Under her leadership, the company remains the No. 1 African-American owned-and-operated publishing company in the world. She continued in her role as chairman as of Aug. 10, 2010, after being named chairman and CEO of the corporation in 2008. Rice was appointed chief executive officer in 2002 and became president and chief operating officer in 1987.

Johnson Rice demonstrates her strong belief in enhancing the future of today’s youth by supporting several education initiatives and corporate internship programs as well as the John H. Johnson School of Communications at Howard University. Through Ebony Fashion Fair, Johnson Publishing Company has donated more than $55 million to charitable causes, many related to education. Ebony magazine Senior Editor Adrienne Samuels accepted the award for Johnson Rice.